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Reactions to the President’s Speech
My reactions to the President’s speech can be found in this essay at the CFR page. The headline writers gave it the title of Obama Passes the Buck: The President's Empty Rhetoric on Counterterrorism. T... -
The President's Speech: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The President's speech was a dog's breakfast: some good parts, some bad parts, and some ugly parts. The Good. The most significant part of the speech was the President's description of clearer standar... -
The President's Speech: A Quick and Dirty Reaction--Part 2 (Guantanamo)
President Obama made two important announcements about aspects of Guantanamo and its detainees in his speech today. These are worth flagging before I pivot and harp on the big problem with the President'... -
Closing Guantanamo: A View from Four Years Ago
In his speech this afternoon, the President is expected to announce a renewed effort to close Guantanamo. This will require hard work, both with Congress and with other countries. When the President ... -
Our Testimony on Military Detention for Domestic Captures: Congress Should Foreclose This Defunct Option
Today we will appear before the House Judiciary Committee, and will argue that Congress should put to rest the question of military detention for domestic captures. More specifically, we will argue that... -
What Bill Keller Misses in Urging President Obama to Appoint a Special Counsel in the IRS Matter
Bill Keller of the NYT urges President Obama to order the Justice Department “to appoint an independent investigator with bulldog instincts and bipartisan credibility” to fully examine the IRS imbroglio ... -
What the President Could Say in His Speech
On Thursday, President Obama will be giving a major address on national security and counterterrorism, styled as a companion to the 2009 National Archives address. That 2009 speech adopted a pragmatic a... -
Congress Must Figure Out What Our Government Is Doing In The Name of the AUMF
A common assumption in the debate about the appropriate legal regime for extra-AUMF threats is that the AUMF is cabined and cannot be extended to newly threatening Islamist terrorist threats. Yesterday’... -
Testimony from May 16 Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on the AUMF
There's been a flurry of Lawfare posts on today's hearing, before the Senate Armed Services Committee, on the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force. The video of the hearing can be viewed here... -
Quick Reactions to Extraordinary Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on the AUMF
I participated in an extraordinary hearing before the Armed Services Committee today on the scope of the AUMF. Lawfare readers interested in the scope of the AUMF will want to watch the hearing video ca... -
The Washington Post, the AUMF, and Self-Defense
Ben quotes from this morning's Washington Post editorial on AUMF reform, the last two sentences of which assert that "Countering the jihadists with intelligence and law enforcement tools manifestly faile... -
The Washington Post on AUMF Reauthorization
The Washington Post this morning has this editorial on AUMF reauthorization. It opens: THE OBAMA administration’s political and legal authority to wage war against al-Qaeda has steadily eroded. Both libe...
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